Monday, October 23, 2006

The much anticipated game between Buffalo and Montreal on Monday night went as expected...Buffalo winning 4-1. They are now 9-0, ladies and gentlemen.

And after making jokes all night about how the Sabres were going to win the cup, we did some detective work and provided the record of the last 18 Stanley Cup winners in their first 10 games of the season:

'87-'88 Edmonton Oilers ( 6 - 4 )

'88-'89 Calgary Flames ( 5 - 3 - 2 )

'89-'90 Edmonton Oilers ( 3 - 4 - 3)

'90-'91 Penguins ( 4 - 5 - 1 )

'91-'92 Penguins ( 4 - 4 - 2)

'92-'93 Montreal Canadiens ( 5 - 3 - 2 )

'93-'94 New York Rangers ( 5 - 5 )

'94-'95 New Jersey Devils ( 3 - 5 - 2 )

'95-'96 Colorado Avalanche ( 6 - 3 - 1 )

'96-'97 Detroit Red Wings ( 5 - 4 - 1 )

'97-'98 Detroit Red Wings ( 7 - 3 )

'98-'99 Dallas Stars ( 6 - 2 - 2 )

'99-'00 New Jersey Devils ( 6 - 3 - 1 )

'00-'01 Colorado Avalanche ( 8 - 0 - 2 ) SICK

'01-'02 Detroit Red Wings ( 8 - 2 )

'02-03 New Jersey Devils ( 7 - 3 )

'03-'04 Tampa Bay Lightning ( 7 - 2 - 1 )

'04-'05 Bad times

'05-'06 Carolina Hurricanes ( 7 - 3 )

Starting in 1998, teams who got hot early stayed hot, compared to teams before that.

Only 3 teams in 18 years finished under .500 in their first 10 games. Not to say that this stat is overly important, but you have to respect it.

Moving on...

Dating back to 2002, the Penguins are 9 - 29 - 2 in Saturday games.

When the Pens beat the Flyers on opening night...and when the final buzzer signaled the end of the Columbus game on Saturday, it didn't even occur to me. No one even mentioned it to us, either...until Pensblog friend Bryan Bell sent us an IM today:

Considering all the contract and free agent talk surrounding Jordan Staal, his next few games are the biggest of his NHL career. Show up every night and he may force the Pens to keep him.But if the Pens want their PK to suffer (AND IT WILL), they'll send him down.

Good night and try to be nice to fairweather fans crawling out of their holes. We need 'em.